Malawi 🇲🇼 the sixth poorest country in the world

6. Malawi – $1,134 per capita per year

Malawi is a landlocked African country on the south-eastern edge of the continent. With well over 85% of the country’s population of 16 million people living in rural areas and dependent on subsistence farming, the country’s economy is fragile and very dependent on foreign aid. In 2000, however, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stopped its aid disbursements to Malawi, citing widespread corruption and mishandling of the funds by the government there. In 2013 President Joyce Banda sold the presidential jet and a fleet of 60 luxury cars to feed the poor and grow crops to fight malnutrition. Only to be embroiled in a financial scandal involving looting, theft and corruption within the government, that went public the next month. While Banda greatly improved diplomatic relations with other countries when she became president, due to scandal Norway, Britain, and the EU suspended approximately 150 million in aid and she lost heavily in the next election. The proceeds from the sale of the jet failed to be accounted for. Malawi continues to grapple with massive problems in its economic system including the scourge of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, a rudimentary market economy, and a dysfunctional education system. In January of 2015, Malawi was in the news for another negative reason, as devastating floods left almost a quarter of a million people homeless and destroyed well over 64,000 hectares of cropland, furthering their economic woes.

It’s amazing how the actions of political “leaders” can have such devastating effect on an unwitting population, the with draw of aid all be it for a short time caused have on projection and people relying on the aid to live . The average Malawian family had less than a single dollar a day to live on . We take so much for granted like flicking a switch and having power or turning a tap and having water . Just imagin how you would adapt to walking 5 on to the well to fetch your water , and adapt we do I did it , it became a part of life but some days it would have most definitely been easier to have a running tap .